Accumulator

ABSTRACT

An accumulator used in an extrusion system or other wire line system that requires temporary wire storage when one is paying into the line or when taking from the line as, for example when changing takeup reels to thereby allow the extruder to operate continuously. The structure consists of a fixed flat platform having horizontal rollers placed thereon in a plurality of semicircular paths and having vertical roller guides placed on both ends of the longitudinal axis of the horizontal rollers to form semicircular channels. There is also a movable carriage having a flat platform with horizontal rollers thereon forming a plurality of semicircular paths, one nested within the other, and having vertical guide rollers on each side of the ends of the horizontal rollers to form the semicircular channels. The movable carriage is mounted on rails and is aligned so that its open channels face the open channels of the fixed platform. The wire is wound in a circulating path through the aligned channels and the amount of wire to be stored in the accumulator can be varied as the movable carriage is run back and forth on the rails.

United States Patent {72] Inventor Donald A. Swindells Barrington, R1.[21] Appl. No. 868,474 [22] Filed Oct. 22, 1969 [45] Patented June 29,1971 [73] Assignee The Entwistle Company [54] ACCUMULATOR I 56]References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,163,372 12/1964 Goldman226/119X 3,175,776 3/1965 Butterfield 226/118 X Primary ExaminerRichardA. Schacher Attorney-Barlow and Barlow ABSTRACT: An accumulator used inan extrusion system or other wire line system that requires temporarywire storage when one is paying into the line or when taking from theline as, for example when changing takeup reels to thereby allow theextruder to operate continuously. The structure consists of a fixed flatplatform having horizontal rollers placed thereon in a plurality ofsemicircular paths and having vertical roller guides placed on both endsof the longitudinal axis of the horizontal rollers to form semicircularchannels. There is also a movable carriage having a flat platform withhorizontal rollers thereon forming a plurality of semicircular paths,one nested within the other, and having vertical guide rollers on eachside of the ends of the horizontal rollers to form the semicircularchannels. The movable carriage is mounted on rails and is aligned sothat its open channels face the open channels of the fixed platform. Thewire is wound in a circulating path through the aligned channels and theamount of wire to be stored in the accumulator can be varied as themovable carriage is run back and forth on the rails.

PATENTEU JUN2 9 l9?! SHEET 1 OF 2 FlG.l

IAM NTOR DONALD A. SWINDELLS ATTORNEYS PATENTEDJUNZQISYI I 3,589,581

SHEET 2 [1F 2 30 i 44 f0 1 a w 20 FIG.4

INVEN'IOR DONALD A. SWINDELLS ATTORNEYS ACCUMIULATOIR BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION One of the problems of the wire-extruding industry and otherrelated industries which perform an operation on a piece of wire, cable,etc., is to attempt to maintain a continuously running extruding orother operation while changing the takeup reels. By stopping theoperation while taking off the full reel and placing on an empty reel, aresulting inefficient utilization of the extruding machine is optimumproduction.

Industry has overcome this problem by placing an accumula tor in thesequence of operations directly in advance of winding the wire on thetakeup reel.

The accumulators of the prior art consist basically of a fixed rollunit, a dancer roll unit, and structure and mechanism which can vary thedistance between the two roll units. Each of the roll units consists ofa plurality of sheaves vertically positioned and having commonhorizontal axes. The dancer roll unit is mounted on some sort of a trackor rail and movable away from the fixed roll unit. The wire comes intothe accumulator and is wound around a sheave of one of the roll unitsand is stretched across to a sheave of the other unit and then loopedback to a sheave of the first unit and back and forth until severalloops are formed and the path of the wire runs around each of thesheaves. As the wire passes out of the accumulator, it goes to thetakeup reel operation. When a takeup reel is full, the accumulator willnot pay out anymore wire yet it continues to receive a wire input. Toprovide storage for the excess wire the dancer roll unit moves along thetrack away from the fixed roll unit thereby increasing the length ofwire in each of the loops. As soon as a new takeup reel is in place,wire may again be removed from the accumulator and when removed at arate faster than that entering the accumulator, the dancer roll unitbegins to come back toward the fixed roll unit. Accumulators may, ofcourse, also be used immediately after a payoff and before the extruder.In this case, the accumulator pays out material on demand during achange of the reels in the payoff.

The use of the heavy sheaves creates both a weight and mass problem whenaccelerating or decelerating the accumulator. An attempt to place thesheaves horizontally would produce the problem of supporting the cableto keep it from falling off the sheaves. Also the sheaves placedhorizontally would be much harder to accelerate or decelerate. Inaddition the length of the carriage and the weight become prohibitivewhen the sheaves are placed in tandem in a horizontal plane.

Another object of the present invention is to come up with a new designfor an accumulator which operates more efficiently. The elimination ofheavy sheaves from the accumulator results in greatly reducing theamount of inertia which it was necessary to overcome in changing thespeed of rotation of the sheaves and also when changing direction ofrotation of the sheaves. The force of inertia to overcome in thehorizontal support rollers and vertical guide rollers will be small incomparison to that of the sheaves.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an integralunit of a wireextrusion system or any other system requiring temporarywire storage in order to maintain a continuous operation. The use of anaccumulator allows wire to be continuously extruded while the takeupreels are being changed.

In operation the wire comes into the outermost channel on the movablecarriage and winds around a path 180 where it exits and then enters theoutermost channel on the fixed platform and winds around a path 180where it exits. The wire is then directed back into the outermostunoccupied channel on the movable carriage and through it and out theother side. In the disclosed embodiment the wire would then go off tothe takeup reels. The number of channels on the respective platforms maybe increased in order to enlarge the storage capacity of theaccumulator.

Once the wire has been wound through the accumulator and attached to thetakeup reel the system is ready for operation. As the wire iscontinuously fed into the accumulator it is also continuously fed out tothe takeup reel. When the takeup reel is full, the accumulatordiscontinues feeding out wire. At this time the carriage travels awayfrom the fixed platform along the track to accommodate the additionalwire which is still continuously flowing into the accumulator. Beforethe accumulator has reached its maximum storage capacity a new takeupreel will have been installed and the wire will be drawn out of theaccumulator at a faster rate than it is being fed into the accumulator.The carriage then returns along the track toward the fixed platform asthe amount of wire stored decreases with the amount stored at a minimumjust prior to the changing of takeup reels.

Other objects and features of the invention will be more readilyunderstood from the following detailed description when read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a top plan view of theaccumulator;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the accumulator;

FIG. 3 is a detail view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. I illustrating thesupport for the movable carriage unit; and

FIG. 4 is a detail view taken along line 4l-4 of FIG. ll illustratinghow the movable carriage is moved along the track.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawingswherein the like numerals designate the same or similar elementsthroughout the several views, the accumulator, as shown in FIGS. 1 and2, is mounted on an elevated framework which is supported by beams 10.The input feed rollers 12 are mounted upon a platform 14 which is itselfsupported on cross-structural members 16. Elements 18 are transverseI-beams, two of which support the cross-structural members 16. The beamsthat extend the length of the structure double as rails 20 to provide atrack upon which the movable carriage unit 30 travels. Also the rails 20provide a support base for the fixed platform unit 40.

The fixed platform unit 40 consists of a base upon which horizontalsupport rollers 42 are mounted in an arcuate path. Along both ends ofthe horizontal support rollers 42 are vertical guide rollers 44 whichtogether form an arcuate channel therebetween and through which the wireruns. A horizontal structural member 416 is attached to the top ends ofthe vertical guide rollers 44 to support them.

The movable carriage unit 30 can best be described by looking at FIG. 4.A platform 32 is supported atop the undercarriage base 3% which isessentially a rectangular frame with vertical walls and having wheels 36mounted along the two longitudinal sides. The wheels rest upon thehorizontal flanges of the rails 20 and ride back and forth along theirlength. The top of the platform 32 has horizontal support rollers 42laid out in arcuate path with the vertical guide rollers 4 placed alongthe peripheries of these paths to form channels therebetween. Althoughonly two channels are shown on the disclosed movable carriage, it is tobe understood that the number of channels on both the fixed support unitand on the movable carriage unit may be increased depending upon theamount of temporary storage capacity which is required in the system.

In operation the invention can best be understood by picturing wirecoming into the input feed rollers 12 from the extruding apparatus (notshown). The wire enters the outermost channel on the movable carriageunit 34 winding its way around the loop and out the other end. It thenenters the aligned channel on the fixed platform unit 40 and exits atits far end and enters the inner channel on the movable carriage unit.After the wire exits from the channel it travels off to the takeupreels. While the operation is running there is a continuous flow of wireinto the input feed rollers and since the takeup reels need to bechanged frequently this is when the accumulator provides its neededservice. When a takeup reel is full the payout of wire is stopped andresponsive to controls in the system the movable carriage will start tomove down the track 20. The controls which operate according topredetermined conditions are not disclosed as they are ordinary controlcomponents and do not form part of the invention As the carriage movesdown the track more and more wire is looped through the differentchannels and temporarily stored. As the movable carriage unit moves awayfrom the fixed platform unit the auxiliary conveyor support rollers 50provide support for the wire extending between the two units. Theauxiliary conveyor support rollers are mounted along the outside wallsof the track 20. The mode in which the carriage is transported along thetrack is by a cable 70 which is attached to the rear vertical wall ofthe undercarriage 34 and extending along the length of the track andaround a pulley 52 supported at the far end. The cable then travels backthe length of the track where it is wound on a reel 54 with the free endbeing attached to the front vertical wall of the undercarriage 34 tocomplete the loop. The reel 54 has a pulley mounted on the same axle asthe reel and it is connected by a belt 58 to another pulley 60 which isin turn driven by a power source not shown since it forms no part of theinvention and its inclusion would only add confusion to the drawings.The programmed responsive controls turn pulley 60 through a gear train(not shown) to move the carriage back and forth along a track. When anew takeup reel has been installed the wire is fed to the takeup reel ata rate faster than that entering the input feed rollers which causes themovable carriage unit to return towards the fixed platform unit anddecreases the amount of wire temporarily stored in the accumulator. Thisis a cyclic operation which starts each time the takeup reel is full.

It is to be understood that the above described embodiment is simplyillustrative of the application of the principles of the invention.Numerous other arrangements may be readily devised by those skilled inthe art which will embody the principles of the invention and fallwithin the spirit and scope thereof.

lclaim:

1. An accumulator for temporarily storing varying amounts of elongatedmaterial which it continuously receives taking up said elongatedmaterial upon demand and paying out said elongated material upon demandwith means for supporting said elongated material in storage comprisinga first horizontal platform fixedly supported and a second horizontalplatform mounted upon a movable carriage, means horizontally disposedupon each of the platforms to facilitate movement of the elongatedmaterial across the top surfaces of the platforms, and vertical guidemeans on the platforms to direct the elongated material along acirculating path back and forth between the two platforms, means forexpanding and contracting the storage capacity of the accumulator byvarying the distance of the movable carriage from the fixed platform.

2. An accumulator as recited in claim 1 wherein the means for expandingand contracting the storage capacity comprises a track leadinghorizontally from the base of the fixed platform, the movable carriageis mounted on this track and having means for running the carriage backand forth along the track.

3. An accumulator as recited in claim 2 wherein the vertical guide meanson the platforms are rollers extending vertically and placed in arcuatecolumns on both ends of the horizontal support rollers to form a channelthrough which the elongated material is guided, the channels on theplatforms are matched up so that the openings on one platform face theopenings on the other platform.

4. An accumulator as recited in claim 3 wherein there are auxiliaryconveyor-support rollers lying on both sides of the track and parallelthereto, these rollers providing support for the elongated material whenthe carriage moves down the track away from the fixed platform.

1. An accumulator for temporarily storing varying amounts of Elongated material which it continuously receives taking up said elongated material upon demand and paying out said elongated material upon demand with means for supporting said elongated material in storage comprising a first horizontal platform fixedly supported and a second horizontal platform mounted upon a movable carriage, means horizontally disposed upon each of the platforms to facilitate movement of the elongated material across the top surfaces of the platforms, and vertical guide means on the platforms to direct the elongated material along a circulating path back and forth between the two platforms, means for expanding and contracting the storage capacity of the accumulator by varying the distance of the movable carriage from the fixed platform.
 2. An accumulator as recited in claim 1 wherein the means for expanding and contracting the storage capacity comprises a track leading horizontally from the base of the fixed platform, the movable carriage is mounted on this track and having means for running the carriage back and forth along the track.
 3. An accumulator as recited in claim 2 wherein the vertical guide means on the platforms are rollers extending vertically and placed in arcuate columns on both ends of the horizontal support rollers to form a channel through which the elongated material is guided, the channels on the platforms are matched up so that the openings on one platform face the openings on the other platform.
 4. An accumulator as recited in claim 3 wherein there are auxiliary conveyor-support rollers lying on both sides of the track and parallel thereto, these rollers providing support for the elongated material when the carriage moves down the track away from the fixed platform. 